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The seed of this blog was sown one afternoon in the Spring of 2005, if I remember correctly, when I impulsively fancied drop by a pub near Letná to have a quick one before giving a lesson. What had brought me to that place was the sign of a brewery I knew absolutely nothing about, but the beer they gave me that afternoon, a světlý ležák with the same name as the pub, was the one that made me start paying attention to what I had in my glass, which was the starting point of this journey through the world of what I believe is the most fascinating beverage.

Those of you who've been following my rants here, or at least, those who have my history of pissheadedness, know what beer and place I'm talking about, and some of you have even visited it.

Unfortunately, Svijanský Rytíř has ceased to exist.

It's no news, really. It's something I'd known for about half a year. One day I was around the neighbourhood and, since hadn't been there for a long time, I thought it'…

Jeff, at Beervana, has been asking, not one, but twice how to define "good beer", which, together with a more than interesting debate I had under the Spanish version of the other day's post, have made me wonder if all these bollocks around beer have not made us loose touch with what's basic and fundamental.

Regardless of what values people may add to it, regardless of the labels and the chauvinism, regardless of the marketing blabber, the truth is that beer is no more, no less than an alcoholic beverage (or "fun juice", as Alan has genially put it). The only real purpose for which a beer is created1 is to be imbibed. The company that manufactures the beer wants, of course, that we find that imbibing pleasant, but not because they are especially fond of us, but because they understand that pleasure increases the probability of a repeat purchase, which is the basis for the sustainability of any business.

It speaks about a new trend in the local market, the big brewers are betting more on variety with beers to a more or lesser extent drift away from the paradigm of farty pale lager. Unlike other similar pieces, the author refrains from writing just a list with tasting notes lifted from marketing materials and does some decent journalist work. He looked for the opinion of representatives of local micro breweries, who, by the most part, don't see these new beers as a threat, but as an opportunity, since they will show to a wider audience that "beer" is not only the above mentioned paradigm (notice the contrast between that and the "Craft vs Crafty" PR stunt by the BA a while ago*).